City of Kalmar, Sweden		Union of the Baltic Cities Commission on Tourism Brofästet Hotel & Conference

10th of November 2004, 17:30 – 19:00 Open session

Minutes from the Commission on Tourism meeting in Kalmar

1. Union of the Baltic Cities organization structure

Mr Kyrre Dahl presented the UBC organization and how the union works through its network.

2. Commission on Tourism Steering Committee

Presentation of the Steering Committee members. Unfortunately only the Chairman of the Commission managed to take part in the meeting this time:

• Mr Kyrre Dahl, Kalmar, Sweden, Chairman
• Mrs Irena Satkauskiene, Palanga, Lithuania
• Mr Armands Muiznieks, Jurmala, Latvia
• Mr Vladislav Andreev, Kaliningrad, Russia

3. The goals of the Commission on Tourism

The goals were presented:

• to increase the value and understanding about questions concerning tourism in the political system
• to build up a network of people working in the field of tourism
• to develop activities in exchange
• to focus on education and to be a helpful hand in initiating EU - projects and eventually strengthen the projects by using UBCs as a tool to inform the member cities about possibilities and other international networks dealing with the same kind of questions and to cooperate with them

4. Last meeting in Cēsis

The meeting in Cēsis 2003 was discussed. Please see previous minutes for further information.

5. Activity report

The Chairman presented the activities of the Commission during the last year. The Baltic Welcome Centre project (http://www.baltic-visitor-centre.net/) is now closed (December 2003) and the final conference was held simultaneously with the Commission on Tourism meeting in Kalmar in November 2003. The Ancientimes project (http://www.ancientimes.net) is still running. More participants from the UBC network have now joined the project. The cooperation with Malbork and its castle proceeded during the year. The project Baltic Sea Cycling has started properly. Please contact the Chairman for further information.

6. New ideas for activities of the Commission on Tourism

Four new ideas were discussed during the meeting:

• Bank of ideas in the Commission on Tourism homepage. Idea will be developed and written down and sent to the Secretariat of the Commission: Kyrre.dahl@kalmar.se Responsible person: Edgars Rypeiks, Liepāja.
• A project for sending people from one country to another to see what could be interesting for tourists to visit/see. Responsible for development and sending: Edgars Rypeiks, Liepāja.
• Spa staff training within the UBC network. Exchange of staff. Responsible for development and sending: Gunta Uspele, Jurmala.
• Commission on Tourism should have links to different national tourism boards or platforms. Responsible for development and sending: Gunta Uspele, Jurmala.

7. Updated list of contacts for the Commission on Tourism. See separate doc.

The list of contacts for the Commission has been updated. See attachment.

8. Internet appearance

Also the homepage has been updated, just as an information.

9. The future of the Commission on Tourism:

1. election of nominating committee (October 2005 – September 2007)
   A nomination committee was elected during the meeting. Members and responsible for sending a list of nominees are Ms Liisa Lemmetyinen, Turku (Chairman), Ms Gunta Uspele, Jurmala and Mr Edgars Rypeiks, Liepāja. This list should be sent by April 2005.
   
2. Retirement
   Kalmar announces its retirement from chairing the Commission on Tourism and will work until September 2005.

10. Next meeting; when and where?

The next meeting of the Commission on Tourism will be held in Jurmala, Latvia in September 2005. Both Liepāja and Tartu announced its interest in hosting the Commission on Tourism meeting in the future.

11. Other

No further issues were brought up and the Chairman closed the meeting.

Attachments: 1) contact list 2) Kalmar meeting participation list 3) Programme for the UBC delegates at the meeting in Kalmar, November 2004.